Mickey Rooney’s Widow to Contest Actor’s Will

Mickey Rooney’s widow plans to challenge the validity of his will, in which the late actor left his entire estate to his stepson.

After the actor’s death in April at the age of 93, his will—signed just a few weeks prior—revealed that he’d disinherited his own children, his estranged wife Jan Rooney, and all but one of her children. Despite a long and storied career in Hollywood, Rooney’s entire estate was valued at just $18,000 and was left to his stepson Mark Rooney, who was the actor’s caretaker during the last two years of his life. Rooney reportedly had no ill will toward his own children, he simply felt they were all in a better financial position than he was.

Yet Jan Rooney, who separated from the actor in June 2012, intends to fight the will, CNN reports. “There is no provision in either of the two settlement agreements… that terminates or in any way affects [her] rights as surviving spouse,” her attorney Eugene Belous, told CNN, adding that he planned to appear in Los Angeles County Probate Court on Monday morning to present his client’s argument.

But a court filing says that Jan Rooney, who separated from the elderly actor in June 2012, had signed an agreement waiving all claims to her husband’s estate after the couple split, CNN reports. The late actor’s court-appointed conservator and executor of the will, attorney Michael Augustine, said the challenge “is totally without merit” and simply an attempt to seek public attention.

[CNN]